Speaking of settings, let’s take a moment and consider hazardous settings and situations. What about when you need to profile, or when you never should have left home at all?

There is a small population of evildoers in the church congregation, although we are all hypocrites to an extent. Otherwise Christ wouldn’t have to defend us on a daily basis. But the hardened criminal would stand out in the average Sunday School crowd. It is not too hazardous.

However, at 3 A.M., in the alley behind the nightclub, where the aroma of pot circles ominously around you, and the hypo crunches beneath your shoe, it may be a good time to profile vigorously. It might also be time to ask yourself what the heck you are doing there at that time of night. Good grief!

The Crisis … Meet the “PLPZ” Parking Lot Perpetrators – The homeless fellow approaches you, his face twisted in mock pain, and the crutch under his right arm is steadying him as he reaches out with his left hand for whatever bills you can share. When you tell him you gave at the office, his pain shifts into Overdrive and his eyes convey his next move.

Parking Lot Perps may ask for the time, or hit you up for money, or ask for directions, or worse, urgently ask you to “…please, please, come help me find my kitty – it is about this big and has a cute little orange patch across its little face. The last place I saw it was right over here by the patch of bushes.”

Hopefully you are aware of the possibility of attack every time you pass any person, male or female, any age. If they seem friendly, always give a smile with your hand on your weapon, or, if you left it in the drawer at home, have your hands ready to deflect a strike to the head.

As regarding someone coming up from behind you, you will want to constantly monitor who is trailing you. By checking reflections in the car windows alongside the curb, you can spot a person who acts suspicious.

Look carefully at the store window reflections, especially the glass facing you on the side of the entrance leading into a store because they give you a better look to the rear. Windows on the far side of the street might help, too.

If you think you are about to be attacked or your LouisVuitton knock-off stolen or cell phone grabbed, you can duck into a store, or turn and face the person with your bear spray canister ready. Hold your breath and try to leave promptly if you do spray.

As you can tell, the best action in this situation is to be aware and ready. Otherwise, this can be a rough one. They usually split after the hit, but if you are down and the person is attacking you, your strongest defense is your concealed carry pistol.

Next is your spray, and then your legs and feet. Kick with all your might against his shins or knees if you can reach that high. If he is hovering over you, his groin is a perfect target for a kick “DIAS”!

That should end his happy times. No need to be kind, kick with all your might; this kind of trash needs to be permanently off the streets. Once he is unconscious, sit up and catch your breath, unless the bear spray is still lingering. Pray for wind.

The Crisis … “MST” Mall Sex Traders are slithering in malls across the country. The first time someone you know disappears without a trace, it could be a “MST”-ery to most people, but you know what might have happened, and the realization of that will make any parent cry out, …

The Crisis … ” Dear Diary: Today the transmission went out, or at least it sounded like it did, and I immediately put the car in Park and got out to look under the car where the transmission is supposed to be, I didn’t see any oil, so I went to the back of the car and saw some rope with cans tied onto it, and it was all tangled up on the bumper, so I started to unravel the mess.

As I stretched out the rope to find any knots, the whole thing pulled away from me. Did I put the car in Neutral instead of Park? About that time I heard my door shut. Peeking around to see what that was all about, I watched my car slowly drive away and turn to the right and leave the parking lot.

The last I saw of my car it was headed in the direction of the next freeway onramp with my office, house, safety deposit box, and truck keys, all linked together hanging from the ignition.

I rested for an hour and a half at the Police Station where I found out that my car was actually driven off by a bad person, who probably put the rope and cans on the bumper to get me out so he could get in. Pretty slick. I never even got a good look at him. Not my best day. Taxi to the apartment. Fixed a hot fudge sundae. G’nite.

The acronym has some letters that you will use more often than others, but all the letters are important. I will provide examples of how you can use the acronym in everyday routine situations and in dangerous scenarios:

S — Size up the situation U — Undue haste makes waste R — Remember where you are V — Value Life (Your own) I — Improvise V — Vanquish fear (use that energy to focus, fear if channeled correctly, is a great motivator) A — Act like the natives L — Live by your wits

This is the most used letter in the acronym. Where are you located? Specifically, are you in line in a grocery store, stuck in traffic at a stop light, in a movie theater, in your workplace, hunkering down in your shelter or in your bed at night?

What is happening around you or can potentially happen around you? Is there a potential threat or dangerous situation/s that you can imagine occurring and how will that impact you? How will reduce the chances of being harmed?

For example, in a movie theater, do you pick the best seat or do you identify the exits? The next time you go to a movie, while the previews and the advertisements are running, check out your surroundings, the people and the physical layout of the theater and position yourself and adjust your readiness level accordingly.

If you remember the Colorado movie theater shooter, he purchased a movie ticket, went into the theater playing his movie, went out that theater exit door and propped the door open so he could later enter from outside that door and shoot the audience as they watched their movie and their attention was focused on the screen.

Others may think it’s paranoia to consider checking your surroundings, but I guarantee if the survivors of that attack ever attend another movie they will never do so without thinking of the exits and what if… If there was one concealed carry member in the audience, the outcome may have been different and just for accuracy sake, that movie theater was a proud “weapons free zone” and had it displayed on the store font.

Some places are gun free zones and that should be something you make yourself aware of as you size up the situation and plan to mitigate for or reduce the risks.

Most theaters have at least two exits; the one you entered through from the theater lobby and an exit/s in the theater leading outside. Which exit is more dangerous or more likely to have a shooter enter through?

There is no one right answer; you will have to assess each situation as you experience it. In general, if a shooter enters through the lobby with hostile intent and a visible weapon, they will possibly be challenged are likely to begin firing, providing early warning to anyone paying attention and allowing exit through the other exit.

However the particulars will matter, you may be in a large theater with many internal theaters that are a distance from the lobby and with the sounds of movies playing, you may not be able to hear or distinguish real gunfire from the movies.

Don’t rush to failure! You also should not have paralysis by analysis where you do nothing, because, you feel the need to continuously analyze a situation before you act. This simply means that you should be deliberate in your actions and not hasty. For example, you hear bump in the night, you do a quick sizing up of the situation as you shake off the cobwebs and prepare, then take action.

One scenario is you hear the noise, awaken, listen (to assess where the sound is coming from), secure your weapon and prepare to defend. In your home, You have the advantage, you know where everything is, you know the layout and you know the best place to defend from closest you.

You should not necessarily rush out to investigate the noise, presenting yourself as a target for the intruder/s, but, move cautiously to identify what is happening. If you live alone or sleep with your partner in the same bed, you may be better off staying right in your bedroom, closing the door, locking it possible and prepare to defend from a concealed/covered position out of direct sight where you can observe the entry to the room and gain advantage over possible intruder/s.

If you have family members in other parts of the home, you need to pre-plan how you will move through the home in order to defend those most at risk. You should discuss this with your spouse so they know what to do if a break in occurs at night, so they know their role and then rehearse it.

All of this may sound crazy and to some paranoid, but it is best to be prepared and never need to use the plan and this should not be a fair fight, anyone criminal enough to break into your home at night, is by definition, a potential deadly threat to you and your family, so you have to think about it, plan your reaction and practice it, so you can how it will go down.

As you plan and prepare remember criminals will likely choose the easiest concealed entrance into your home, for example a basement door on the back of your home that is not visible to neighbors. Remove anything that may help a criminal, such as ladders or furniture you store outside that allows a criminal to enter a window. Assess the most likely entry points from a criminal’s point of view and prepare your actions accordingly.

This is the second most used letter in the acronym. You need to have the situational awareness to think about where you are and take a few seconds to do this as you go through your daily activities.

For example, if you are in bumper to bumper traffic on the highway or at a stop light, how do you position your vehicle? Do you just pull right up behind the vehicle in front of yours or is it best to stay at least one vehicle length from the vehicle to your front so you can change lanes if necessary or react to a more dangerous threat as in a carjacking.

Try to remember to always be able to see the bottom of the rear tires of the car to you front and this will likely give you enough room to maneuver your vehicle. One technique criminal’s use is to pull their vehicle very close to yours or use their vehicle to bump your vehicle from behind and as a law-abiding citizen, you stop and prepare to deal with a simple vehicle accident while they approach you to carjack.

If you are in bumper to bumper traffic on the highway remember where you are and if you’re the last vehicle in the traffic, turn your flashers on, leave room between you and the vehicle to your front and scan your rearview mirror.

I have been in that exact situation where I was the last vehicle in stopped traffic on the highway where the traffic jam could not be seen until the last second when the others cars behind came over a hill, so I knew it was a bad position, I scanned the rearview and when I saw an SUV fly over the hill with little time to react, I immediately pulled off to the right onto the shoulder and beeped my horn to warn others and the SUV came to screeching halt about two feet from the car I was behind, so that SUV would have hit me hard if I was not aware of my surroundings. By the way, those other vehicles were bumper to bumper and did not take any action, before that SUV came to a halt.

It may sound like a no-brainer to value your own life, but, you have to remember that it is not likely for someone else to save you, especially if you don’t take steps to save yourself. The best explanation I have for this outside of a combat situation is that if you are faced with a dangerous situation, you may feel significant fear and that fear may paralyze you if you allow it to.

It’s the fight or flight situation, where people choose to fight or run away from dangerous situations, well there is actually another option some folks choose and that is to do nothing and freeze. Most people have experienced fight or flight at some point/s in their lives, some more than others.

You have to value your life and the lives of your family enough to act. In the home break-in scenario mentioned earlier, some may find it very difficult to potentially have to take another person’s life. If you ever experience this, remember what can happen to your family if you fail to act, if this does not motivate you, then I do not know what will.

If you have an adult family member residing with you, discuss this with them so they can resolve this internally, so you know if they will fight, fly or freeze.

Similar to Valuing life, the way you do your best to vanquish fear is to be prepared and trained. When you are trained and prepared, you are able to act and execute on muscle memory and fear plays a much smaller role as you react to dangerous situations.

I can only imagine the fear of being in my home and hearing an intruder break in and not being prepared or know what to do, that would truly be terrifying to know I had done no preparation or ability to deal with the situation. The way you overcome fear for the most part is through tough and realistic training. Consider this as you train yourself, your Family and friends.

Whether it is the first time they fire a weapon or as you rehearse and discuss your plans for a reaction to a break in, etc. they will be afraid until you make them understand why it’s important to be prepared and then teach them how to use the weapon, get comfortable with how it works, how to fire, apply misfire procedures, reloading and fire more. Repetition is key.

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests

You cannot post new topics in this forumYou cannot reply to topics in this forumYou cannot edit your posts in this forumYou cannot delete your posts in this forumYou cannot post attachments in this forum